A load of rubbish from Andrew McLean, who is usually a fairly decent writer. The satisfaction of sides beating the Australians when that happens is fantastic and there's nothing better than seeing Australia stretched - but the idea of kicking them out of international cricket? It's not April Fool's Day is it?

A load of rubbish from Andrew McLean, who is usually a fairly decent writer. The satisfaction of sides beating the Australians when that happens is fantastic and there's nothing better than seeing Australia stretched - but the idea of kicking them out of international cricket? It's not April Fool's Day is it?

Yes he's obviously bitter and twisted like a lot of us and went way over the top. He didn't really touch on how badly NZ played though.

I read that. At first I thought he was just kidding around to emphasise how dominant Australia were, but by the end I was almost convinced that he seriously wanted Australia kicked out. Frankly, Pakistan were much more competitive in ODIs than New Zealand this year. The shocking New Zealand bowling attack (partially due to injury and lack of depth) and brittle top order failures against Lee and McGrath have more to do with their failure to be competitive than Australia really being that much better than anyone else. To put it simply, New Zealand didn't justify their number two ranking with the way they played.

I read that. At first I thought he was just kidding around to emphasise how dominant Australia were, but by the end I was almost convinced that he seriously wanted Australia kicked out. Frankly, Pakistan were much more competitive in ODIs than New Zealand this year. The shocking New Zealand bowling attack (partially due to injury and lack of depth) and brittle top order failures against Lee and McGrath have more to do with their failure to be competitive than Australia really being that much better than anyone else. To put it simply, New Zealand didn't justify their number two ranking with the way they played.

Have to agree ...Of the 7 onedayers this season (first 2 in Aust in Nov/dec), New Zealand were very competitive, in the first 3 games (even more so than pakistan), however ever since the 2nd game of this home series it been like watching School masters play toddlers....

What I didn't like was his bit about NZ's current attack. Vettori deserves a heck of a lot of credit for going at around 3 an over while everyone else goes at 7 or so. McLean just lumps him in with everyone else... I'm not quite sure why.